SAMWAIES, PETER, son of “a person about the Court”; bapt. 29 Aug 1615; adm.; KS; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1634, adm. pens. 1634, scholar 10 Apr 1635, matr. Easter 1634; 6th in “ordo” 1637/8; BA 1637/8; MA 1641; DD 5 Sep 1660; Fellow, Trinity Coll. 1640–50, when ejected for refusing to take the Engagement, Tutor 1641-50; ordained deacon (Rochester) 28 May 1643, priest (London) 9 Apr 1645; Vicar of Cheshunt, Herts., 28 Feb 1654/5 – Mar 1655/6, when ejected by Commissioners for Ejecting Scandalous Ministers for persisting in reading the liturgy of the Church of England (CSP Dom 1658, 83); lived for a time with Thomas, 1st Earl of Elgin, or with his sister Christian, Countess Dowager of Devonshire; Rector of Maulden, Beds., 1657; Rector of Wath by Ripon, Yorks., from 14 Jul 1658 (reinstituted 31 Dec 1660); Rector of Bedale, Yorks., from 28 Aug 1660; Prebendary of York from 27 May 1668; Chaplain in Ordinary to Charles II (and subsequent monarchs) from 5 May 1673; refused to read James II’s declaration for liberty of conscience 1688, and wrote a letter for publication which had a considerable effect in persuading the clergy of his neighbourhood to take the oaths to William and Mary; bequeathed a portion of the rent arising out of his lands at Middleton to the Westminster scholars elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge; author, Devotion Digested, 1652, and other works; d. 6 Apr 1693. DNB.
By his will dated 16 Jul 1691 he gave certain lands situated at Middleton, in Yorkshire, upon trust as to a portion of the rent, then amounting to £15 per annum, to be disposed by two equal portions to two of the Westminster scholars elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, for buying them books at the time of their admission into their scholarships, with power to the Master and Seniors of Trinity College to divide the annual income among all the Westminster scholars at their discretion. The proceeds were subsequently applied as exhibitions for the two senior of those elected annually to Trinity College.
